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- Did God Die on the Way to Houston? A Queer Tale
Did God Die on the Way to Houston? A Queer Tale
A Work of Theological Fiction
Imprint: Resource Publications
James Friedman, a retired philosophy professor living in Houston, receives an invitation from a woman, identifying herself only as Shekhinah, who claims she was once God. She wants to talk to him about her decision to abandon heaven for earth. Accepting the invitation, Friedman encounters a tall, ebony-skinned, twenty-three-year-old, same-gender-loving woman who is wearing a "Black Lives Matter" t-shirt. She tells Friedman a creation story about a loving God who, at the moment of creation, fourteen billion years ago, gave up power over the world out of respect for human freedom. This view of God is similar to one Friedman has expounded. According to Shekhinah, to God's horror and surprise, countless human beings have misused their freedom to cause massive injustice--bigotry, genocide, cruelty, etc.--and to put the earth itself in peril. Powerless as God, Shekhinah asserts that the Creator could make a difference in the world only by becoming a human being--which meant the death of God. God, she claims, entered the world as a Black, Same-Gender-Loving Woman to divinely affirm three often disrespected identities. For reasons she reveals, Shekhinah, now a socially engaged secular Buddhist, chose Houston as the place to partner with others and begin her project of saving a damaged planet and achieving justice for all human beings.
David B. Myers, retired professor of philosophy, is author of Marx and Nietzsche: The Reflections and Transcripts of a 19th Century Female Journalist, New Soviet Thinking and US Nuclear Policy, and many articles in professional philosophy journals. After retirement, he created the Center for Interfaith Projects, an organization that promotes interfaith dialogue. Practicing both Judaism and Buddhism, Myers belongs to a Reform Synagogue and a Buddhist Sangha. He is currently working on a book entitled Jewish Buddhist Dual Belonging and the Nature of Religion.
“David Myers’ clever and enjoyable work both challenges and delights. Myers wonders what God would need to do if God truly wanted to bring compassion and justice into the world. Myers’ answer: God would become a same-gender-loving woman of ebony skin from Sierra Leone, who moves to Houston. How Myers makes his case is a fascinating philosophical and theological examination of the nature of God and what it means to be human. A wonderful read.”
—Roy Hammerling, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota
“In this unique book with a piercing and provocative premise, Myers praises the silence-breakers, uplifts the compassion-seekers, empowers the marginalized, lauds the outlaws, inspires the activists, and liberates God from the chain-link fence of our assumptions. Read it and let yourself be set free for the holy task of tikkun-olam.”
—Jacqueline Bussie, author of Love Without Limits
“In this book, God (if you are willing to believe her) is instantly recognizable, wonderfully human, and thus a challenge to more traditional approaches to God, ones that put God out of reach of humanity. . . . Whether the reader ultimately believes the claims of divinity made by Shekhinah, this book serves as an important challenge to how we view God and her relationship with her creation.”
—Phil Mouch, Minnesota State University Moorhead
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